Washington County deputies never expected anything back from the attention they paid to Margo Alice Forrest, who never married, never had kids, lived alone and kept to herself, the Pioneer Press’ Mary Divine writes today.

Deputies Angela Garvey and Jim Wick kept an eye on her, comforted her when she was in an accident, fed her cat when she needed them to, even finished cooking her dinner when her back gave out one evening.

“We would go over once a week, once every two weeks, and just stop by and see how she was doing. We’d make sure her smoke detector was working, make sure she didn’t need cat food or something if it had been super snowy or just hang out,” Garvey tells Divine.

When she died, she left $101,191 dollars to the department, to be used for the benefit of deputies who patrol Afton.

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts. He was senior editor of news in the ’90s, ran MPR’s political unit, created the MPR News regional website, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started the two most popular blogs in the history of MPR and every day laments that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.

NewsCut is a blog featuring observations about the news. It provides a forum for an online discussion and debate about events that might not typically make the front page. NewsCut posts are not news stories but reflections , observations, and debate.